CIfflIS flARW.

ALL

Tape 164

Netscape Tape 164

Well the ah there was new dean who took over three years ago

ah Kim Clark at Harvard Business School and one of the things

he wanted to do right away was to ah get the Business School more

involved in places around the world where really interesting

things were going on in business Um he wanted to make it

possible ah for professors and doctoral students and so forth t6

more easily be able to do research and ah write case studies in

these places so that they could then feed back into ah the

program You know he want to make sure that just because the

school is headquartered-- located in in Boston urn that it was

inclusive of all the different business ideas and know

you

think the reason ah he first came up with Silicon Valley urn

heard from another professor who flew back with him on plane

after one of his visits you know he was saying this is

place

different This place is really fascinating you know its almost

magical So think because he had been here and he had spent

time her he saw you know this isnt necessarily something that ah

youre just gonna learn out of book You need to be

participating you need to be doing cases that really involve you

in ah whats going on out here So by putting this know

you

small center here it makes it easier for professors to come in

to have an office to have the logistical help urn but also by

having some people who work here full time ah the school really

has sort of built-in sensor

sensor So things that happen

out here we know about them We hear when

urn right away things

we have breakfast somewhere ah that we can then pass along And

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its really been very helpful and ah you know sort of every month

we have more people coning out here getting involved And once

professor does ah usually theyre hooked as well and they can see

ah that-- that its very helpful to them in terms of their

research especially professors in the technology area the

entrepreneurship area and so forth

Well throat think its different in in two ways

mean one reason that the business school came here is that there

are just certain industries that are overwhelmingly based here

So its sort of an epicenter for ah entrepreneurship Urn

its definitely where the Internet industry and the software

industry are focused the venture capital industry as well If

you had to pick one location youd pick this road urn if you were

looking around the world So if you want to study certain

industries and really get handle on what like

urn theyre and

what critical mass in that industry means you really have to

come here think apart from that urn you get into more of the

cultural issues how people work Um and there into

you get

things such as the ah fast-paced exchange of ideas how people in

Silicon Valley really valley ah knowledge and the of

exchange

knowledge over say traditional hierarchical approach to things or

urn you know what family you were born into or whatever Urn

California and the west think have always stood for this

versus other parts of the country or the world but think you

see in Silicon Valley real ah sort of the accentuation of

all that where now also we have many immigrants coming in and ah

as woman ah wanted to come to this place 25 years ago saw

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it then even that this was the place to come if you wanted to sort

of be in merit-based economy think now that is much more so

even than when first came here and think people see that when

they come here think that will spread think though that

tim the rate at which other places will adopt this is not

necessarily going to be fast-paced and it will depend on the kinds

of industries that are based in those places

the people with whom co-founded this were all

company
cells
engineers urn who Id worked with at an engineering company and

urn have to admit the great prejudice have which is love

engineers lye always loved engineers and one reason do and one

reason worked at that engineering company is that engineers are

extremely logical Arid so again going on the fact that like

this merit-based approach think engineers are very meritbased

Urn they want to look at the facts and make decision and come up

with something logical and theyre often looking to build

something better So urn think think theyre just wonderful

people as general class So urn yes was sort of the

management side of this and going into this the the

urn engineers

really understood much more about the product and what it could do

than did Urn so really needed them in terms of that

wonderful idea and they needed me in terms of was older than

than they were urn had done lot more in terms of management

and so was able to be helpful in terms of ah the business plan

or going and talking to venture capitalists and so forth.iQut

actually having been through the process of starting company and

seeing what it takes to build ah theres like

company nothing

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it for gaining empathy for entrepreneurs because some weeks some

days some hours theres nothing like it in the world in terms of

the high that you feel and some days and some hours theres

nothing like the low And my husband recently over the past

couple of years urn started working with Star/Epsorn the first

thing told him is You know youre really gonna be in for

rollercoaster ride And some days youre gonna think youve hit

the jackpot but the next day youll learn that havent and
you

you really have to learn to moderate yourself and and keep your

passion And thats what entrepreneurs do They are able to

live through this lot of people arent so entrepreneurship

really isnt for everybody

Urn you know you may not wanna wear sandals to work but perhaps

urn being able to wear what you want to work and having people

feel comfortable actually may be helpful may make some place more

productive Urn you may ah want to shower every day but ah what

this really implies think is that need to for

you accept people

what they are If you accept people for what they are and

emphasize instead what they have to contribute um as opposed to

thinking about those things which are irrelevant to actually

ink
building great business

you can app ly

urn

ome
then

of these
maybe weve

princ iples
come

to
long

any md
way

of

business Urn in addition certainly things like the Internet

and being able to make quicker decisions this is-- all of

parts

business will have to do this and companies that think they wont

have to are wrong Ah this is going to happen and so those who

put this off and know some CEOs who have said Im-- Im gonna

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be out of here in couple years Im not gonna do this Im

gonna leave this for my successor Well you know for that

person that may be the best decision but for that company it is

not the best decision And so he-helping your company learn how

to make decisions more quickly perhaps throwing out the five-year

plan and focusing more on ah lets get more data make decision

and go with it quickly ah those are all things that anyone can

take away from Silicon Valley

Well it is Its your idea versus someone elses right And

you know was talking to guy who heads up engineering at

medical advise his company the other day and he was saying that ah

he tells new recruits when they come in one of the he

things

tells them is Well when you come in here you know youll see

that John over there yells lot he says But you know your

not marrying John He said John just thinks hes right and

hell stick up for his idea And you know and usually the right

idea will win but you gotta speak up for your ideas So you

know thats the way-- thats the way it happened

Well think to anyone who uses the Internet on daily basis

then Internet time becomes reality So out here where everyone

does urn it just sort of feeds upon itself It definitely isnt

just publishing fad its really there Arid if you look at say

even 10 ago the had contend with

years urn most you to was was

like voicemail Well now youve got your voicemail youve got

your email youve got the Internet if you wanted to have access

to some information um rather than going to the library or ah

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you know phoning somebody or driving hundreds of miles its

there its there right away even in the job that do You

know were working with professors 3000 miles away so every

single day Im communicating with people there also at our Hong

Kong research center which is again you know 3000 miles away

in the other direction but you know it doesnt feel like Im not

working with them It feels like Im working with them in very

close personal ah basis And love it when get together with

people and see them face to face but you know Internet time

works and it works in terms of ah all kinds of things In terms

of ah ah being able to cut down on your able

inventories being to

work more closely with your suppliers It also works in terms of

just being able to collaborate with people all around the world

much more easily What that means though on the downside is not

going to downside its challenge If you have so much more

information available to use so much more quickly you have to use

it If you have to use it then you must make decisions more

quickly and thats how we get thrust into Internet time even on

daily personal basis not just in tens of our businesses

I-- think the the pace of change because it becomes more and

more rapid all the time can easily be overwhelming but sometimes

when you think that when youre just about to Maybe

say there

is too much of this think when you step back and see the

Internet affecting things like ah Chinese dissidents ah be-- that

you know people in China being able to use the Internet to get

their ideas out or people in ah Africa able to the

being use

Internet to ah to help people learn more easily how to start their

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businesses and and and you know farm their crops Urn you can

see that theres really something very humanizing about it and

and thats the intriguing part of of technology is that its

its in way very unhuman sort of robot-like and yet maybe

perhaps it can make us more human and really bring people ah

closer together Ah my mom whos 78 and lives up in Montana in

tiny town mean the whole state of Montana has fewer people

than the Bay Area urn is ah buying computer this week and is

going to start using the Internet and shes thrilled about it ah

because you know as shes getting older and can do fewer sort of

physical outdoor things ah now shell be able to actually be

closer to her children her grandchildren people around the

world its exciting to her So can see technology can

actually ah make us more human

7th well one idea lye always had about that is that that urn

people like this often are quite childlike and think that

children are often the most innovative and creative and if we

could only let ourselves become more like children and see the

world again every day anew perhaps we would be filled with more

new ideas and when you go into lot of the around here
start-ups

and you go into the engineering time

group you see toys all the

They love the toys They love to play with them Well you know

we might like to too but perhaps we think because were in the

positions we are that we shouldnt do that Perhaps because they

let themselves do that they are able to be more creative and to

throwaway some of the rules that other people play by

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CHRIS DARW.ALL
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It is not so easily done and and but you know the people who are

the greatest inventors and who are able to have the greatest

insights urn they are the people who are able to throw away rules

because if you cant throw away the rules you can never imagine

new world

Well I-- you know I-- do believe this school is is able to

say Lets throw away some of the old rules because one of the

old rules is that schools are in one spot and urn for an old

established school to say You know were not gonna think of it

that way anymore Were going to be thinking about urn how to do

things you know via the Internet Were gonna think about having

outposts in interesting regions around the world This is way

to start throwing away some of the old rules Um think that ah

it may not change as radically as ah as out here

people might want

it to change but think this school is in many

changing

different ah ways and that that of ah the order

embracing new is

exactly what has to happen to make school great

Well think there definitely is blurring between urn work and

home tim an interesting story around here recently theres

guy who lives in Palo Alto who made the bottom floor of his house

into coffee house and put neon and people

up flashing light

could come in and he would fix them drinks and so forth

espresso

and hed change the art and ah there was an interesting blurring

between ah home and work because hed work upstairs and have

people come and visit him downstairs Urn but the thing that--

about of work and

blurring home is that you can say Well thats

bad thing because now what we have is work encroaching on the

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home We go home we want to check our voicemail we want to

check our email and so forth but see better side to that ah

out here where really whats happening is people are able to work

at home and theyre able to play at work and theyre able to to

parce things out Theyre able to say that if they want to

leave at two oclock on one day and go do something else thats

fun they can And this i--- the notion that yes should be at

work these hours and be at home these hours and do these

particular things its again like the notion of well must wear

wing-tipped shoes and cant wear sandals So think the

ability to urn work when that is what needs to be done or when yo

have that wonderful idea Maybe youre out on your sailboat and

to play when thats what needs to be done thats really whats

important and think that technology again gives you that

ability to urn work and play at the times when you want to more

easily than in the past t2ODO

Well certainly..

-3
four times worse than four years ago My God you know

mean we really are having problems here like that which means
Can you really have these critical mass clusters of these

wonderful things without now the and how

paying price are you

going to do that Or did you want more something directed towards

just the way of life the technology right.. \7r\cU\

Well one of the things thats problem is ah that when you think

about the pace if people do have to absorb more

continually

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information because more informations available and you have to

make these decisions more quickly test things more and so

quickly

on and so forth ah do you reach as human where

point you

cannot process any more-- more quickly than you-- than you can
is that going to cause incredible stress on people Will we urn

as human beings be able to find way around that and what will

our way be Will we find technology that helps of load some of

that processing or is decision to have

making always going to be

done by our feeble brains which in fact are limitedfl this is

the case then people will harder ffindharder

working and harder

especially as their competitors get better and better and

better and then ha

you this sort of you know when will it end
And you will have as-- at least as an individual
havtcThm
way to own time outs because the from
enfo9ptour company the

compan7standpoint isnt going to enforce that Youre going to

haveto find way to do that yourself to recharge your own

batteries from this incredible in which now

pace youve planted

yourself
25
I-- think it is and think when youre ah
younger you really

dont do So often tell students who are coming out here

You kno when graduated from business school the thinking was

that ah we first of all not lot of people went out and

started their own business but the thinking was if you were going

to that you certainly needed to get lot of experience before

you did that and so you would do it later on when you had all that

experience that enabled you then start business

to Well now

think almost quite the opposite mean certainly you need

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some experience and you need and

some learning you need some

abilities and you need good idea but if youre young you are

capable of making those kinds of time commitments and and at that

same ti youre less capable when youre younger of enforcing

time out ater urn you are able to enforce it and later you may

not havethe energy to go ahead and and do that start-up that

youve always wanted to do

Well I-- find it very interesting think it ties back to

ar
that idea of urn being able to do wha it that
is you can do and

think that by the

urn way we structure schools in the United

to young people you know you

shcui1d_b in school unt ii you are 21 or you should do

tim certain

things until you are and yet we know weve known for
long

example that when you .1.ouj au cercain protessions people peak at

certain ages Mathematicians at 41 should

peak wny we keep

people who are very very talented from being able tn actually

perhaps be involved in the business and yes you want to continue

their schooling in certain but wonderful

ways this is thing

its great opportunity On the other hand to really build

great company you need that balance You need some wisdom

maturity thats gonna come from other people but think

urn

thVtS rgy and lot of he wis omah in me mat on

technology will indeed come from younger and younger people

Its not just our recognition that that is so but the Internet

has given them that capability tim my son is teaching himself

programming you know over the Internet hes 14 He

tim doesn
see why he shouldnt do this and think the Internet will open up

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Tape 164

lot of vistas to young people who will also see theres no

why shou do this think thats great Urn Im

sure some people might not what were trying to do here is

really start utilizing people for what they can contribute best at

th line in their life when they can be stcontribute it And that

seems to make sense.2 t0

Theyre sort of like division of large company sneezes

think thats you know an excellent observation and very

true that ah if you go anywhere in this area into any company

there are lot of similarities to other companies and if you go

to the coffee shop or where ever and you meet people and talk to

them people have the same sorts of ways of looking things and

that they they share the same sorts of ideas and ah aspirations

And so there is lot of mobility between companies and yet ah

the organism itself ah you dont see so much mobility The people

stay within the organism theyre just moving from company to

company Also would say that urn when youre looking-- it

depends on what youre looking at If youre looking at say

start-up and the start-up is looking for VP Marketing they will

not want someone whos hopped from job to job to job Theyll

want someone who shows some loyalty because the start-up needs you

to put in good five to 10 years to help that get going

company

So at certain levels that mobility is okay At other levels it

really isnt prized so much

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